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Research Articles
Small-scale Variability of Metals in Soil and Composite Sampling
Jürgen Einax; Jörg Kraft
Corresponding author:: Jürgen W. Einax, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Lessingstr. 8, D-07743 Jena, Germany; e-mail: juergen.einax@uni-jena.de
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/espr2001.05.067
--- Soil pollution data is strongly scattering also at small scale. Sampling of composite samples is, therefore, recommended for pollution assessment. Different statistical methods are available to give information about the accuracy of the sampling process. Autocorrelation and variogram analysis can be applied to investigate spatial relationships. Analysis of variance is a useful method for homogeneity testing. The main source of the total measurement uncertainty is the uncertainty arising from sampling. The sample mass required for analysis can also be estimated using analysis of variance. The number of increments to be taken for a composite sample can be estimated by means of simple statistical formulae. Analytical results of composite samples obtained from different fusion procedures of increments can be compared by means of multiple mean comparison. The applicability of statistical methods and their advantages are demonstrated for a case study investigating metals in soil at a very small spatial scale. The paper describes important statistical tools for the quantitative assessment of the sampling process. Detailed results clearly depend on the purpose of sampling, the spatial scale of the object under investigation and the specific case study, and have to be determined for each particular case. | | Keywords: sampling; small-scale variability; soil; statistical methods; uncertainty |
9 ESPR (4) 257-261 (2002)
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